Lone survivor of 2004 Ocean Drive fire tells her story

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Lexi is a senior at Regents School of Austin living with her grandparents Peter and Joy Brown. She was honored during her senior homecoming for varsity cross country.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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Demolition crews razed the home of the family after Peter Serrao's brother Dr. Karl Serrao filed a permit with the city a few weeks after the fire to demolish the house.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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Dr. Peter Serrao, 46, was a neonatal physician at Driscoll Children's Hospital known for his good humor and dedication to his patients. His wife Heidi Serrao was taking psychology and sociology classes at Texas A&amp;M University-Corpus Christi.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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Flowers, notes, prayers and poems were left at the front of the Serrao's home after the fire. The community also organized a vigil and remembrance walk in the family's honor.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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The fire at the home on the 3800 block of Ocean Drive was caused by an electrical short under the stairs above a downstairs bathroom.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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It took about 40 firefighters almost three hours to control the blaze at the Serrao's Ocean Drive Home. The batteries in the fire detectors were dying and because of their constant beeping, the family took the batteries out.

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The debris of the Ocean Drive home was left untouched for almost three weeks before it was demolished. Alexis Serrao, who was 10 at the time of the fire, is telling her story for the first time in hopes of helping others learn fire survival skills.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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A vigil honoring the Serraos took place the night after the fire in front of the family's home. The fire received heavy media coverage, but lone survivor Alexis Serrao has not told her story until now.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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The family of five lived on the 3800 block of Ocean Drive. Dr. Peter Serrao, his wife Heidi and their son Oliver died when the house caught fire in October 2004.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

CORPUS CHRISTI - Alexis Serrao was struck by a monstrous cloud of smoke when she opened her bedroom door.

It was 2 a.m.

Her house was on fire.

Her survival instincts kicked in, and she closed the door. She was only 10 years old, but she remembered what firefighters had told her elementary school class a couple years before.

First she went to her bathroom for a wet washcloth to cover her mouth.

She took a deep breath and opened the door again.

Instantly, she knew to get down and crawl.

As she felt her way to her parents' bedroom, she could hear her 11-year-old brother screaming. She tried to call out words of encouragement to him between breaths.

She stayed calm.

Then she ran into her dad's legs and saw the look on his face.

She realized then they were fighting for their lives. The family's Ocean Drive home was engulfed in flames, the stairs blocked by fire.

Alexis and her dad made a run for it to meet her panicked mom in her parent's bedroom.

The bedroom floor was sunken in. It looked surreal, like a Salvador Dali painting.

Her dad ran back and forth trying to retrieve her brother, taking deep breaths out a window with every attempt.

Her dad told Alexis and her mother to jump out the second story bathroom window. There was no other choice.

Alexis woke up on top of an air conditioning unit and heard her mom fall close by. She called out to her mother but got no answer.

A window over them exploded.

Alexis, known as Lexi, was the only survivor. Her father, Dr. Peter Serrao, 46, and brother Oliver, known as Ollie, 11, succumbed to smoke inhalation. Her mother Heidi Serrao, 45, died of massive head injuries after her fall.

Lexi's older sister Ashley, 21 at the time, was away at college. She immediately returned to Corpus Christi to be with Lexi.

Eight years after the fire, Lexi is sharing her story in the show "Surviving Disaster," airing at 7:30 p.m. Monday on KEDT. She recounts the night of the fire that took her family members' lives and how her reaction helped her survive.

Her message: Always keep fighting, and you will find a way to survive.

"My family members could probably be here today," Lexi said. "If my brother kept fighting and got up from his bedroom to my parents bedroom with us, he could be here today. If my dad stood by the window a little bit longer, he could be here."

The Serraos were a prominent family. Peter Serrao was a neonatal physician at Driscoll Children's Hospital known for his good humor and dedication to his patients.

The tragedy left the community reeling. Residents left letters, flowers and prayers in front of what was left of the home at 3825 Ocean Drive. Vigils, memorials and walks were organized to remember the family.

People who didn't even know the family left notes of comfort in front of the home or attended the funeral.

The devastation received heavy local news coverage for weeks after the fire. Neither Ashley nor Lexi have spoken publicly about their loss or the details about what happened that night until now.

In a way, telling her story is helping Lexi finally heal.

"It's a really positive way to process what she has been through," Ashley said. "Being able to be vocal about your feelings makes you feel less alone. I'm proud of her."

Lexi recalls her father as the funniest person she'll probably ever meet. He liked to cook curry and listen to Bob Marley.Heidi Serrao was taking psychology and sociology classes at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Lexi remembers cuddling with her mom before bed.

"She was like a mama bear," Lexi said.

Ollie was a sixth-grader at Baker Middle School. His father had wanted him to go to medical school and had already begun to help Ollie plan his future.

The fire started directly under Ollie's bedroom. On Oct. 19, 2004, an electrical short under the stairway above a downstairs bathroom caused the fire.

The batteries in the fire detectors were dying, and the family had taken the batteries out to stop the constant beeping.

The day after the fire students at Baker dedicated a football game to Ollie, covering his locker in messages and prayers.

That night more than 200 people gathered in front of the Serrao home sharing candles, prayers, poems and memories in a vigil honoring the family.

The community dedicated a walk in remembrance to the family, donating the proceeds to the March of Dimes because Peter Serrao had supported the organization.

More than 900 people attended the funeral Mass for the Serrao family at the Corpus Christi Cathedral. A prayer Ollie had written in his last days of religion class was read: "I pray for strength for all my family and myself."

Lexi was unable to attend the funeral because she was in the intensive care unit at Driscoll Children's Hospital recovering from a collapsed lung, two broken ankles and a hurt back.

Instead, Lexi released three white balloons during a memorial service at the hospital.

The charred skeletal remains of the house were a constant painful reminder of the tragedy to those who drove by the house.

On Nov. 9, 2004, the family filed a permit with the city to demolish what was left of the once sprawling white house with large columns and a grand colonial presence. After the debris was cleared the property was sold, and a new home was built years later.

Within two months of the fire Lexi returned to fifth grade at Windsor Park Elementary under the care of her maternal grandparents Peter and Joy Brown.

Lexi was eager to return to normal. Even though she was given a half-day option at school, she took on the challenge of a full day.

But at school she felt like everyone was staring at her. She hated that; she didn't want to be pitied.

"I didn't want to think about it," Lexi said. "It's our nature as human beings to get back to where we were before the pain."

Her grandparents' main goal as Lexi's new guardians was to let her know that despite their loss, life goes on. They were not going to forget what happened, but they were not going to dwell on it either.

Eight years after the fire, Lexi has realized the depth and severity of what happened.

"I was so young at 10 years old, and I didn't have any time to actually think about what really happened," Lexi said. "I just got up off my feet and kept going."

She attended middle school at Incarnate Word Academy, and in high school she and her grandparents moved to Austin to be closer to Ashley, who lived there until 2011. It wasn't until high school that the depth and severity of what happened finally hit her.

"The longer I have away from them, the more that I miss them," Lexi said. "But the more that I miss them, I realize how much I really loved them."

Lexi now is a high school senior deciding between St. Edward's University and Baylor University. She is on the varsity cross country team and the mock trail team. She hopes to study French and science in college. She wants to study abroad in France and be part of the international volunteer organization Doctors Without Borders.

About six months after the fire, Ashley returned to Loyola Marymount University and graduated with a degree in screen writing. She is married and lives in Carbondale, Colo., where she teaches yoga and is pursuing a career in film.Ashley also knew she needed to move on with her life but keep a balance.

"I'm not going to ignore that pain and I will grieve, but you still need to brush your teeth in the morning and eat breakfast even though something bad happened," Ashley said.

Lexi and Ashley are closer than most sisters because they share a unique pain.

Lexi said the fire hit Ashley harder at the time because she was older and she went to the funeral.

"She got to see them and mourn for them, and I never really got to do that," Lexi said.

Lexi believes she is mourning now and relies on Ashley's help. Some days she is sad or mean and doesn't understand why.

"I call (Ashley) and ask her why I can't think about college," Lexi said. "And she'll tell me it's because you don't want to move on in your life without them. It's because you don't want to make decisions without them. She'll say weird things like that to me that make so much sense."

Ashley said because of the age difference, it is difficult to balance between being Lexi's sister and mothering her.

"It's my natural instinct," Ashley said. "It's the least I can do for her after what we've been through."

Lexi said losing immediate family members is so much harder because they are with you every single day.

"You wake up with them every single day," Lexi said. "They see you in your ugliest of uglies. And then they're gone."

Lexi believes if she can tell people how her family members' deaths could have been prevented, people will be more serious about being prepared for a fire.

"I'm hurting right now, I'm hurting," Lexi said. "You don't have to be where I'm at if you do this."

No one ever believes such a life-and-death situation will happen to them. But everyone needs to take time to learn steps for prevention and survival, Lexi said.

She advises to crawl because smoke always rises, to know the main exits and to buy an escape ladder for two-story houses.

"As ironic as this sounds because there will be smoke, take a deep breath," she said. "Always stay calm."

It took many years for Lexi and her grandparents to talk about the fire. In high school she approached her grandparents about teaching others what she's learned.

"She deserves all the credit for how she has handled this," her grandfather Peter Brown said. "She has worked with us and we are very proud of her. She has a lot of inner determination."

Birthdays and anniversaries of her parents and brother still are difficult for Lexi. She is not yet at the stage where she can celebrate them.

However, the sisters joyfully remember their father when they find pennies on the ground, thinking it's their dad sending them a message.

"Even though he made money, he did a lot of charitable work and was known for that," Lexi said. "He would turn off the lights in our house or turn off the water saying we need to save money."

The family also thinks of their parents and brother when they see butterflies.

"There are always butterflies at the grave site, and they are usually in threes," Lexi said. "They are just beautiful and angelic."

However, Lexi doesn't need those reminders of family; they'll always be in her thoughts.

"I wake up in the morning thinking about them," she said. "And I'll go to bed thinking about them."